A planned WWE Crown Jewel match with Rhea Ripley has been canceled due to a real-life injury disguised as a new storyline, according to a new report.

On the October 29 episode of NXT, Ripley was attacked in the WWE Performance Center parking lot by current World Women’s Champion Liv Morgan (with whom she has been feuding since April) and Raquel Rodriguez.

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The former Women’s World Champion was later announced to be retired indefinitely, with WWE releasing a statement saying: “Last night at NXT, Rhea Ripley was viciously attacked in the parking lot by World Women’s Champion Liv Morgan and to her Raquel Rodriguez. brutal attack, it was revealed that The Nightmare suffered a fractured right orbital socket, which will put Ripley out of action for an undisclosed amount of time.”

The Fight Observer The newsletter says that not only is her layoff due to a legitimate right orbital bone fracture, but it also necessitated the restructuring of the upcoming Crown Jewel event in Riyadh, with a planned one-on-one match between Ripley and Rodriguez canceled.

Interestingly, it appears that Ripley’s injury was actually due to a legitimate earlier incident, and the attack in the parking lot was hastily written to explain.

The Wrestling Observer writes, “The injury happened on the 10/21 Raw, which was believed to be a headbutt, but was kept quiet until they did a ghost angle on NXT. When Ripley was on NXT on 10/29 before the ghost angle, backstage over Zaria, she was standing to the side where only half of her face was visible and only her left eye.”

According to writer Dave Meltzer, the currently scheduled Crown Jewel Women’s Tag Team Championship Fatal 4-Way Match between Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair vs. Damage CTRL (Kairi Sane and Iyo Sky) Vs. The Meta-Four (Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson) Vs. Chelsea Green and Piper Niven were a last-minute replacement for Ripley Vs. Rodriguez one-on-one.

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Ripley joined WWE in 2017 and was part of the first NXT UK roster, becoming the first NXT UK Women’s Champion in August 2018. She became the first Australian wrestler to hold the NXT Women’s Championship at NXT TakeOver: Blackpool II in 2020 and held the championship women’s NXT UK, further establishing her dominance in the women’s division.

Ripley later won the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship with Nikki ASH, the Raw Women’s Championship. She is the seventh WWE Women’s Triple Crown Champion and the fifth WWE Women’s Grand Slam Champion, as well as the first woman to win a Royal Rumble match as the number one entrant.

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